Siddique Islam (National News Service) Dhaka, Thursday, April 07: at least seven devotees were killed and more than a hundred others injured in a stampede during 'Mahabaruni Snan', a holy dip for the Hindu community, in Kashiani upazila of Gopalganj district Wednesday.
According to local sources, the stampede took place at about 8:30am when around one lakh people gathered on the banks of two big ponds -- Kamonasagar and Dudhsagar -- at the village to have the holy bath.
They said devotees usually dip in one pond and then go to the other. But women and children slipped as the muddy road between them became greasy.
The dead include four women, two men and one child. They are -- Arati Palit, 62, Jilapi Das, 62, Arati Pal, 58, Putul Patra, 45, Chandrakanta Haldar, 57, Mahadev Dey, 35, and Milon Dhar, 10.
The weeklong fair began Wednesday morning at Orakandi, 40 kilometres northwest of Gopalganj town, marking the 183rd birth anniversary of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur, the founder of the 'Matua' community.
The police said the seven died in the morning as some 1,00,000 pilgrims gathered at Orakandi, the birthplace of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur, to attend the weeklong Baruni Fair, a bathing festival.
The festival was organized on the occasion of the 183rd birth anniversary of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur. Thousands of people from different parts of the country as well as from India and Nepal come to attend the festival every year.
The 'Mahabaruni Snan' is one of the major religious fairs of the so-called low-caste Hindus of southern Bangladesh. The Matua and other sects of the Hindu community organize as many as 50 fairs in Khulna and Barisal divisions.
The holy dip and fair traditionally draws a huge number of pilgrims from all over Bangladesh as well as from the neighboring India, locals said. (End/si)
